The present invention relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Bracteantha plant, botanically known as Bracteantha bracteata and referred to by the name xe2x80x98Redbrawhixe2x80x99.
The new Bracteantha is a product of a planned breeding program conducted by the Inventor in Redland Bay, Queensland, Australia. The objective of the program is to create and develop Bracteantha cultivars with a compact growth habit, numerous inflorescences with attractive involucral bract coloration, and long-lasting inflorescences.
The new Bracteantha originated from a cross by the Inventor of the Bracteantha bracteata cultivar Argyle Star, not patented, as the female, or seed, parent with an unidentified proprietary selection of Bracteantha bracteata as the male, or pollen, parent. The new Bracteantha was discovered and selected by the Inventor as a plant within the progeny of the stated cross in a controlled environment in Redland Bay, Queensland, Australia in 1997. The selection of the new Bracteantha was based on its white-colored involucral bracts and compact growth habit.
Asexual reproduction of the new Bracteantha by terminal cuttings taken in a controlled environment in Redland Bay, Queensland, Australia, has shown that the unique features of this new Bracteantha are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.
The new Bracteantha has not been observed under all possible environmental conditions. The phenotype may vary somewhat with variations in environment such as temperature, daylength, light intensity, photoperiod, and water and nutritional status without, however, any variance in genotype.
The following characteristics have been repeatedly observed and are determined to be basic characteristics of xe2x80x98Redbrawhixe2x80x99 and distinguish the new Bracteantha as a new and distinct cultivar:
1. Compact and bushy growth habit.
2. Upright, outwardly spreading and rounded plant form.
3. Freely-flowering habit.
4. White-colored involucral bracts and orange-colored disc florets.
5. Short and strong peduncles that hold inflorescences above the foliage.
Plants of the new Bracteantha differ from plants of the male selection primarily in plant growth habit.
Plants of the new Bracteantha can be compared to plants of the female parent, the cultivar Argyle Star. In side-by-side comparisons conducted by the Inventor in Redland Bay, Queensland, Australia, plants of the new Bracteantha differed from plants of the cultivar Argyle Star in the following characteristics:
1. Plants of the new Bracteantha have smaller leaves than plants of the cultivar Argyle Star.
2. Plants of the new Bracteantha have smaller inflorescences than plants of the cultivar Argyle Star.
3. Plants of the new Bracteantha are more freely flowering than plants of the cultivar Argyle Star.
4. Plants of the new Bracteantha have shorter peduncles than plants of the cultivar Argyle Star.